Conflating the two? Maybe. But here on HN you must assume people understand the difference: that Monsanto is dodgy as a company, but this doesn't generalize to GMOs as a technology.

It's commonly asserted that Monsanto is dodgy as a company. I'm telling you this is a deliberately crafted and propagated deception, used as a weapon against GMOs. It's not something that can be separated.

How can it be a weapon against GMOs if the criticism of Monsanto is about their business practices?

It's as if you'd never heard of ad hominem arguments. They can be highly effective in the rough and tumble of politicized conflict. If Monsanto tried to defend itself on its merits, all its arguments could be dismissed by saying they're bad and you can't trust anything they say.